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St. Thomas More Church / Munster, INThu, 24 May 2018 11:00:38 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.644739153There Is Always Something Newhttp://dailyreflection.org/2018/05/24/there-is-always-something-new/
http://dailyreflection.org/2018/05/24/there-is-always-something-new/#respondThu, 24 May 2018 11:00:38 +0000http://dailyreflection.org/?p=8889Read More »]]>“I see retirement as just another of these reinventions, another chance to do new things and be a new version of myself.” ~ Walt Mossberg

Yesterday evening, we gathered at the Carmelite Monastery for our end-of-the-year retirement dinner. Each year, we generally lose a couple of teachers or staff members to retirement and this year is no different. We are saying goodbye to our principal as well as to some long-standing teachers and staff.

Saying goodbye in these situations is always difficult because there are so many emotions going through all of us. Some are sad because they are losing someone with whom they have worked for a long time. Some might panic as they worry about who they might get to replace those leaving. Still others might be a tad jealous — or more than a tad — because they still have more years to put in before their own retirement. Still others begin to get sad thinking about the fact that they will be saying goodbye in the next year or two for their own retirement.

Sometimes, people view retirement as “the end”. That is not so. Retirement is the beginning of another phase of our lives. It gives us time to do some of the things we put off when we were too busy with work. It gives us time to visit places we have always dreamed about seeing and renewing friendships that may have been neglected. In short, it is opportunity.

God always gives us opportunities. In life, we move through many stages: infancy, childhood, teens, young adult, adult, senior, and retirement. Each stage gives new opportunities, new joys, new challenges, new struggles, and new accomplishments. All of these phases in life prepare us for “the biggie”: the day that we jump from this life to life eternal.

God knows what He is doing. He prepares us in stages by showing us that there is always something new to enjoy. One day, we will be able to look back at all our joys and all our accomplishments even as we relish eternal joy with God. Until that day, continue to look forward to the opportunities of the day.

FAITH ACTION: Kindly pray for those who are preparing to enter that new venture in life called “retirement”, that they may do so with joy and hope.

]]>http://dailyreflection.org/2018/05/24/there-is-always-something-new/feed/08889Do Not Lose Sighthttp://dailyreflection.org/2018/05/23/do-not-lose-sight/
http://dailyreflection.org/2018/05/23/do-not-lose-sight/#respondWed, 23 May 2018 11:00:25 +0000http://dailyreflection.org/?p=8886Read More »]]>“The swimmer adrift on the open seas measures his strength, and strives with all his muscles to keep himself afloat. But what is he to do when there is no land on the horizon, and none beyond it?” ~ Georges Duhamel

There are times in our lives when we feel adrift. That is a hopeless feeling, an awful feeling. It causes great anxiety for those who experience it. They find it hard to focus and generally fear asking for help because they do not want to risk rejection.

I have cruised on the open ocean a few times now. Taking a transatlantic cruise, there is a period of five to seven days, depending upon the course that has been laid out for the captain, where no land is sighted, no birds are seen, nor are any ships noted. It is just you and the vast, boundless ocean. Surrounded by nothing but water as far as the eye can see makes a person feel quite small.

If someone were swimming in that same water, it would also make a person feel quite helpless and hopeless. How can one long survive if there does not appear to be any means of escape? How can one long survive if there does not appear to be any destination? It becomes too easy, at those times, to give up hope.

I remember a professor, one day, talking about the difference between loneliness and being alone. He said that one was a state of mind and the other was a state of fact. When we are alone, there is no one around us. When we are lonely, we might be surround by a throng of people but fail to recognize any of them because of the state of mind in which we are in.

Feeling adrift, being lonely in the midst of a bustling world, is a reality that hits all of us at one time or another in our lives. It is in those times that we need to reach for our life jacket, our preserver, if you will, in order to make sure that we do not drown. That preserver is none other than the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Never lose sight of where you keep that life jacket. It should always be handy. And it will be handy if we perform some regular daily functions such as prayer. Praying maintains our relationship with God. If we keep grounded in prayer, we will never have to worry about being adrift because He will always be at our side, even in the middle of an ocean where we are swimming with no land in sight.

FAITH ACTION: Make sure that you ground yourself in prayer today so that you do not feel as if you are adrift without a purpose, a goal, or hope of help.

]]>http://dailyreflection.org/2018/05/23/do-not-lose-sight/feed/08886Is It The Weather Or Is It Me?http://dailyreflection.org/2018/05/22/is-it-the-weather-or-is-it-me/
http://dailyreflection.org/2018/05/22/is-it-the-weather-or-is-it-me/#respondTue, 22 May 2018 11:00:56 +0000http://dailyreflection.org/?p=8875Read More »]]>“There’s no such thing as bad weather, just soft people.” ~ Bill Bowerman

Am I soft? I must be. The weather has been a bane of my existence. As I get older and my body starts to do the things that older bodies start to do — the ol’ snap, crackle, and pop syndrome! — the weather greatly affects me. My joints scream with the damp and cold, my sinuses attack with the rapid changes in fronts. I, generally, become a mess with the kind of weather we have been having lately.

This quote really hit me square between the eyes, though. I gripe about the weather; but, the different kinds of weather are what the earth needs. If we did not have cold, many plants would not survive as they have to have a period of time where they are dormant. If we did not have rain, well, we would not have anything growing. As far as that goes, it would not really matter if anything grew since we would not be alive. No rain would equal no water. No water equals no life.

Hot or cold, wet or dry, sunny or dark, all the cycles of the weather serve a purpose to our planet and, therefore, to us.

If we apply this to our own faith lives, we might find another eye opener. We often become upset when our spiritual lives cycle. For a while, we might have the richest prayer life we have ever had. It satisfies us and fulfills us. We have never felt closer to God. Then, all of a sudden, we hit a “drought”. We find prayer almost impossible. We feel far from God. We wonder what happened.

The great saints have all commented upon their own dark night of the soul. Yet, they persisted in their attempt to pray. They made it through their spiritual drought and found an even richer life with God afterward.

Changes in the weather remind me of the many times our spiritual weather changes. We need to appreciate all those changes and to look for something better as we go through them.

]]>http://dailyreflection.org/2018/05/22/is-it-the-weather-or-is-it-me/feed/08875Ending And Beginninghttp://dailyreflection.org/2018/05/21/ending-and-beginning/
http://dailyreflection.org/2018/05/21/ending-and-beginning/#respondMon, 21 May 2018 11:00:49 +0000http://dailyreflection.org/?p=8868Read More »]]>“When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense.” ~ Kahlil Gibran

Yesterday we celebrated the Solemnity of Pentecost, what commonly has been called the “birthday of the Church”. That was because the descent of the Holy Spirit and the gifts brought by that same Spirit freed the Apostles from their fears and anxieties and allowed them to go forth, boldly proclaiming the Good News.

As we celebrated Pentecost, we came to an ending: the official end of the Easter Season. Today resumes Ordinary Time once again. With every ending comes a new beginning. We have experienced that over and again throughout our lives. There is never something that is totally “the end”, not even death. As Christians, we believe that ending brings us what we have been longing for our entire lives, new life in the Lord.

Hence, each ending is important as it launches us into each new beginning. Every time we end in failure, it challenges us to do better the next time. Every time we end in victory, it gives us the encouragement to do even more the next time. Either way, our endings point the way to something new.

Let us not become so used to endings and beginnings that we begin to discount their value in our lives so that we look at them merely as another day or another step. Each ending and each beginning can be full of promise and expectation and hope.

FAITH ACTION: Dedicate your day to the Lord and ask Him to reveal Himself to you in the variety of people and circumstances you will meet.

]]>http://dailyreflection.org/2018/05/21/ending-and-beginning/feed/08868Our Birthday Celebrationhttp://dailyreflection.org/2018/05/20/our-birthday-celebration/
http://dailyreflection.org/2018/05/20/our-birthday-celebration/#respondSun, 20 May 2018 11:00:40 +0000http://dailyreflection.org/?p=8778Read More »]]>“Everyday is a birthday; every moment of it is new to us; we are born again, renewed for fresh work and endeavor.” ~ Isaac Watts

Birthdays are such wonderful celebrations. They are times when family and friends gather together in order to give thanks for the great gift of life. The celebration usually takes place in the context of a meal. In my family, our mother had a tradition of giving her “birthday boys” the option of choosing the meal and what kind of cake we wanted for our special day. She would make whatever we wanted. My selection was very predictable: kiszka and pumpkin pie (Yes, I was always a bit of a birthday “radical”.)

Today, we celebrate our common birthday. Pentecost has been considered as the birth of the Church. Thus, it is appropriate that we gather as family and friends to celebrate this wondrous day. We have invited you to dress in red, the color of the day, and to gather around the Table of the Lord from which the best birthday meal could be provided: the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

Pentecost is all about new life. The gifts of the Holy Spirit breathed life into a group of people who were paralyzed by fear. Locked in an upper room, the Holy Spirit came down upon Mary and the Apostles and gave them the courage to go out and proclaim, boldly, the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Nothing changed externally. Their lives were still in danger. Preaching about Jesus still could get them arrested and killed. But they were changed internally. They were freed from the fear, doubt, and confusion that had shackled them. They were, in the words of Isaac Watts, “renewed for fresh work and endeavor.”

And so it is with us. The Holy Spirit frees us from fear and dread as well, if we but let Him. This is our day of rejoicing. It is a day in which we can celebrate our heritage and look forward to our future.

Some people paint the future of the Christian faith as very bleak. I do not believe that one bit. Oh, we may suffer for the sake of our faith. There is nothing new about that. But, no one, not any power on earth, can hold back the promise and glory of God.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are ours for the asking. The gifts of the Holy Spirit will provide us all that we need to face this world. We have no reason to fear. So, on our birthday, take the opportunity to celebrate God’s providential love.

FAITH ACTION: Reflect upon all that God has done for you and give him thankful praise.